Schneider Electric has unveiled that it is developing a new end-to-end traceability tool for food and beverage supply chains.

Combining its knowledge of the food and beverage market with the expertise of Microsoft, its partner in blockchain technology, the firm's latest traceability application will be able to monitor products across an entire supply chain.

With 21 of the Global Top 25 major food and beverage companies amongst its customers, Schneider Electric has highlighted that many companies the sector today face “increasingly complex supply chains, stricter regulation and more demanding consumers” and therefore, traceability is a top priority.

Benjamin Jude, Food and Beverage Segment Solution Architect at Schneider Electric, said that “this End to End traceability tool facilitates much faster product recalls.”

“With this prototype, these companies can build an electronic passport for each product to fully automate the contracts between them. For example, leveraging IoT, they can maintain an unbroken cold chain," he added.

As well as providing full product traceability, the “End to End Traceability” tool will also offer time savings by warning distributors in real time of any delays in delivery or production.

The application was shown at the Schneider Innovation Summit in Paris last April and it is still in development.

The tool will utilise Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure IoT platform and will feature technologies including shock or humidity Telemecanique Sensors and a “click-to-cloud” system for reporting secure information from connected objects and sensors.

The firm has also drawn on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and knowledge of blockchain technology.

Traceability is a major challenge for food and beverage manufacturers today. According to a 2017 Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty report, insurance claims for a product recall reach an average of $9.5mn, with the food and beverage industry being the second most impacted, just after the car industry.

Ambrosus, a global decentralised blockchain and Internet of Things platform (IoT), has partnered with NDS (a subsidiary of Korean food producer Nongshim) to track and trace beef sold by food retailer Mega Mart. Providing detailed information about the history and transportation surrounding each cut of beef, the platform hopes to enhance transparency in this complex supply chain.

Ambrosus, a global decentralised blockchain and Internet of Things… Read more